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Protesters to hold GOP senators' feet to the fire over health care

Susan Walsh / AP

Progressive activists are preparing to carpet bomb Republican senators in their home states with health care protests this week. The Left sees the July 4 recess as an urgent opportunity to kill the GOP repeal-and-replace effort, which is floundering in the Senate.

The most under-pressure GOP senators will likely keep a lower-than-usual profile, per the Washington Post, so progressives are mobilizing to make the protests unavoidable.

Activists are also populating online geographical hubs, like "Resistance Near Me," to direct progressives to protest their Republican House member or senator.

The health care consumers' group, Families USA, has released an "action toolkit" for activists to "make the Senate feel the heat" over the recess.

Moveon.org has published high-quality downloadable images of health care signs that protesters can print off easily and bring to July Fourth parades and other rallies.

Why these protests matter: Senate Republican leaders wanted to pass health care before the recess because they were concerned about such protests. But that ship has sailed. Expect made-for-cable confrontations between vulnerable Republican senators and activists who rely on Obamacare.